A Study Of Classroom Interaction In College English Teaching Based On Constructivist Theory

Traditional English class is teacher-centered and students act as audience passively receiving plenty of knowledge. As a result, "Dumb English" or "Exam English" emerged as a knotty problem that needs to be solved in English teaching of all kinds of schools in China. For this requirement, The College English Curriculum Requirements (2007) was issued which highlights that the purpose of English teaching is focusing on language communicative competence around listening, speaking, reading and writing. It causes the transformation of student-centered class as well as attaches importance to classroom interaction, a way to achieve better language learning proved by previous researchers, such as Ellis.Although classroom interaction plays an important role in foreign language class, it is sometimes ignored by teachers. With this concern, this thesis intends to study the present situation of classroom interaction based on Constructivist Theory with the help of 4 teachers and their 179 students from Yanshan University and Liren College. The specific research questions are as follows:1 What is the amount of teacher talk and students' talk in the four English classes?2 What are the main types of classroom interaction in the four English classes?3 How does teacher questioning influence classroom interaction?4 How does teacher feedback influence classroom interaction?In order to answer the above questions, classroom observation, radio-recording, questionnaire and interview were employed as research instruments. Totally 200 min classes were observed and recorded, and then transcribed completely to ensure authenticity. Other two instruments, questionnaire and interview are supplemented to investigate perceptions of teachers and students on classroom interaction.After data collection and analysis, the main findings are as follows:(1) Teacher talk took up most of class time than students' talk. (2) T-S interaction was the main type of classroom interaction and S-S interaction was rarely seen in these classes. Specifically, T-I and T-C interaction were two commonly seen in T-S interaction. For S-S interaction, pair work and group work were mostly carried out by teachers. (3) Referential questions were more effective to students'both quality and quantity answers. In S-S interaction, teacher questioning seldom appeared as necessary guidance. Rephrasing, narrowing and rephrasing with alternative were good methods for modifying questions. (4) Positive feedback was preferred than negative feedback. Praise with evaluation and praise with repetition were good ways to create comfortable classroom atmosphere. Corrective feedback was not usually used in classes. In S-S interaction, conclusive feedback was mostly applied at the end of the task.Based on Constructivist Theory, implications were concluded:Firstly, teachers should encourage students to participate classroom activities for the increase of their talk and change of T-S interaction to more S-S interaction. Secondly, teachers should alternately use referential questions and display questions, meanwhile, play an important role of facilitator in S-S interaction. Thirdly, proper positive feedback should be given to meet the demand of communication of feelings. In addition, diverse corrective feedback should be used according to different situations.The above implications are corresponding solutions to the defects emerged in classroom interaction of college English teaching. For the limitations of author's knowledge and this study, this topic need to be further studied in the future.